Shining a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news, and commentary. Writer Beware is sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.

October 30, 2006

Victoria Strauss -- The IILAA Strikes Back

Ridicule can work, my friends.

As many of you may already know, Leann Murphy yanked the IILAA website last night. At first, the content was replaced by an amusing (though not, I suspect, in the way Leann intended) nyah-nyah message. Second thoughts apparently prevailed, however, and the message was removed. Currently, the website consists of an opening page and a page of links, but the rest of the content is gone. (Fortunately the Cabal, ever watchful and prepared, has screenshots.)

So anyway, I logged in at Absolute Write this morning, and what should I find waiting for me but this Private Message (to fully appreciate it, you need to visit the link above).

"Hello old, ugly one,

Hello. I saw your post about IILAA.....and I just want to ask by which evidence do you and your friends on that website favor the idea of a scam?

I do know there are scams out there-people who take money and do not do their jobs......then again there are some writers who just plain....suck. They suck and they cannot handle disappointment or rejection so they turn their feelings outwards towards places who have made people like me successful.

I am not about hate...but I do wish to know why people try to attack others in such ways that are considered hateful.

IILAA is not Desert Rose...it is an organization which includes Desert Rose....I know...I have checked...I was skeptical too.....and as a published writer with Desert Rose, I will have to defend them in saying that I have never had a problem with them. It did cost a bit to get things going, but I do not expect ANYONE to work for me for free which is the essence of all those who post such hateful text.....I dont understand why people believe that they can get things for free.....it costs money to make money. The only ones I see making money are those who do and those who try-not those who complain that a scam is occurring which they cannot identify. This is also the mark of a mentally ill person. Sites such as the one I got your info. from seem to draw the attention of the mentally ill.....

I do not understand why sites such as the one you post on clone themselves all over the internet and act as if they know not about one another.....if anyone is involved in cyber-terrorism, scams or fraud-it is those websites who do those things. Having watched for a while now, I DO know that absolutewrite, writers beware, sfwa, and a few others are in fact run by the same people. It is called search engine bombing...and what it does is allows people to saturate the search engines with their content- until they search engine finds out-and bans them Some of us have connections that can make that happen at no cost. It is just a matter of code.

Yes this can be done....

I am keeping my identity secret for now because I do not wish to waste my time reading or sifting through the mounds of hate email I may recieve as a result of expressing my opinion. God knows that sort of thing is not allowed on the kinds of websites that you post. Are you sure they are not run by Islam?

I feel I may be wasting my time writing this and sending it out to eveyr single person I can find...maybe I am........just watch who you are in company with...there are people out there who are REAL scammers- and those like Victoria who are so good at scamming that they lead others to follow....trust me... I know all about her I would stay as far away from her and her organizations as I could if you dont want to end up in jail with her someday.

Have a great weekend!"

My response:

"Hi, Leann. If you believe you have the evidence to prove even one of your allegations, I invite you to make it public. I'd welcome the chance to refute it. I also invite you to have the guts not to lurk behind a cloak of anonymity. If you are really as Young and Fabulous as you claim, what do you have to hide? Other than your poor writing skills, of course.

What's up on that site right now is a howler. Apparently the writer is a five year old with a penchant for a potty mouth. Nyah, nyah, you're ugly! Kiss my ass. Very mature. I have to say I love the notion that anyone who disagrees with her (Victoria, are listening?) has a lousy sex life. Thought what one has to do with the other is beyond me. LOL.

Well, I'm really interested in her line, "Are you sure they are not run by Islam?"What does she mean by that? Coupled with her mentioning cyber-terrorism, I'm wondering if she's implying that all of Islam is a terrorist organization?Hmmm..?

That "run by Islam" comment is genuinely shocking. I mean, sending an abusive email to someone who's exposed you as a scammer isn't nice but at least it's vaguely sane. Completely gratuitous religious abuse is something else. This person really is insane, isn't she? I almost feel sorry for her. Almost...

I particularly like the salutation "Hello old, ugly one," followed by, "I am not about hate...."

Also, I'm intrigued by the sheer ignorance--or possibly stupidity--of claiming to know the code to reveal that a cabal of people are running these different watchdog organizations, but not understanding that one's IP address is trackable.

I'd like to laugh at the atrocious grammar, but all I can think it that it is so unfair that Victoria has to read nastiness like this, written to hurt her as much as possible. Victoria, I wish I could send you 1,000 compliments to get that taste out of your mouth. Thank you so much for wading through this cesspool to help others.

"It is called search engine bombing...and what it does is allows people to saturate the search engines with their content- until they search engine finds out-and bans them Some of us have connections that can make that happen at no cost. It is just a matter of code."

I guess the author of this letter has more "connections" at the search engines than President Bush.

Awwww! I was out of the town last week, heard about this IILAA thing late at night when I had a terrible headache, forgot to check it when I get back home, and here I am, unable to read IILAA's manifesto from their very own website. All I get is vague comments about redesign of the site.

I'm just a fan of conspiracy folks (and reading about various scam ops is also my hobby, as it happens). Surely IILAA will republish the Truth soon? It would be inconceivable that I would have to read about the Horrifying Truth from their alleged worst enemy's web site!

We, the RPBWKIIDOTSEOTPW (Random Passers-By With Keen Interest in Drama on the Shady Edges of the Publishing World), demand clarification, truth, and reliable sources!

Wait. The site is down for redesign and it has page colours set? Surely someone whipping up a temporary web page would not pay attention to such stylistic details. I get it! It's a cover-up of epic proportions! And what's this? I just received a self-destructing encrypted email message from httpd@iilaa.com: "Help! I'm being held hostage in an abandoned Sun-3 server!" Someone must have hijacked their website and all user accounts!

Well, I have copies of the web page contents from IILAA, though I kept only one copy of the background. Even I could stand seeing it only so much. I recommend that we send it to her ISP as an example of her activities. If she gets booted off the ISP, then it might put her out of business. If it doesn't, hopefully it will slow her down and save a few writers from being victimized. Anyone agree with me or do we let her bring out IILAA v2.0?

Certainly an ugly PM with a lot of unnecessary ranting. And a class-act answer.

However I am going to say something really unpopular here. No matter how much we may disagree with the one who put up the PM - it is not exactly possible with clean hands and concience to tell her not to hide behind an anonymous name. Many of the people visited regularly and respected by writers such as Miss Snark do the same. I think what is good for the goose should be good for the gander and complaints about others hiding behind anonymous names are not really to the point since many in the community seem to do it.

All that being said the original PM was pretty disgusting and handled in a very professional level headed manner.

Teddy, there's a difference between using a handle and being anonymous. There's also a difference between choosing to be anonymous in all one's dealings, regardless of what one is saying (compliments, criticisms, jokes, observations, informational tidbits and the like all included) and being anonymous for the sole purpose of sending nastygrams.

roach, the person who sent me that PM registered from the cox.net node in San Angelo, TX, so yes, I'm sure it's Leann. Babs is more...terse. At least in her written communications. She also isn't scared to contact me as herself.

Teddy, in addition to Aconite's points about the difference between having a handle and being anonymous...I use my real name for everything, so I don't feel it's at all inconsistent for me to call Leann on her attempt at anonymity.